


Behind the Wheel

by aj_linguistik



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AU Where Eugeo Comes to the Real World, Fanfic Request, Gays Who Can't Drive, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 00:50:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18884734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aj_linguistik/pseuds/aj_linguistik
Summary: For an anonymous ask on tumblr.Kirito is slightly -only slightly- jealous that Eugeo got his license first. But he's trying to be a good sport about it and let Eugeo show off his new driving skills.





	Behind the Wheel

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: The minute I saw this request I was like, already in a giggle fit. Eugeo is the gay who can't drive oh bless. Baby.

             So, as my luck would have it, an artificial Fluctlight brought into the real world somehow managed to get a license before I did. I mean, I have the motorcycle license, but that’s not the same. I can’t drive a car. I can only have one other passenger, which isn’t really fair when I have a decent-sized group of friends. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with taking the bus or the train, but something almost felt…cooler…about being able to drive your friends places.

               And Eugeo beat me to it.

               He told me he’d pick me up at ten so that he could demonstrate his new driving skills to me for a little bit before we met up with everyone at Dicey Café. I glanced down at my phone. A few people had just sent good morning texts, and here I was standing on the curb yawning and waiting for my ride. The only two people who had been up earlier than myself and Eugeo were Asuna and Alice, who probably were holding back comments when I told them ten in the morning was “too early.”

               The car he pulled up in looked like an average streetcar. I don’t know why I’d been expecting some weird government vehicle. I shook my head and leaned over to wave at him through the window. He lowered it, giving me a friendly smile.

               “I’d watch out if I were you,” I said. “I heard some sketchy blond guy’s been driving around picking up random teens off the curb.”

               “K-Kirito, don’t just say things like that in public!” he said.

               His tone sounded serious, but I could tell he was holding back a laugh.  I slipped into the passenger seat and reached an arm around him.

               “Look at you, adapting to the real world!” I jabbed. “Except you keep slipping up.”

               “S-slipping up?” he stammered.

               He looked embarrassed suddenly.

               “Oh! Your name…it’s…”

               “Kazuto,” I said, laughing. “It’s okay. It took Asuna time to adjust, too. She still calls me Kirito quite often. No matter how many times I tell her it’s Kazuto.”

               Eugeo shook his head.

               “Well, that  _is_  the name you gave me when you introduced yourself,” he pointed out. “Anyways, you’re the first passenger I’ve had since being licensed. I promise I’ll do my best.”

               I gave him a funny look.

               “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

               He tapped one finger on the steering wheel.

               “I’m just a little nervous,” he admitted. “I know I passed the tests and received the license, but this world is still new to me. You were born here and grew up here. You know what a good driver is from a bad one because you’ve been around cars your whole life. Meanwhile, I’m completely new to this. Even if I was able to pass the tests, I’m new to cars in general.”

               I patted him gently on the shoulder and gave him my cheesiest grin. His cheeks tinged red.

               “Hey, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” I reassured him. “And like I told you on the phone, it’s cool that you want to do a few practice laps around the block.”

               “Practice laps?” he repeated. “I distinctly remember telling you I wanted to show you how much I learned!”

               “Aaaah…right.”

               Oops.

               “Y-you know what I mean!” I said. “By doing, you’re still practicing, so…”

               He let out a stressed sigh and shifted the car into drive. A small part of me wanted to playfully clutch the seat and act like he was already driving like a maniac, but it was better not to pick on him while he was operating a two-ton mobile steel cage that had me inside of it. He pulled out onto the road. We sat in silence for a moment.

               “So…is…is it okay to talk while you…?” I asked.

               Eugeo nodded.

               “Yeah, it’s fine,” he said.

               “Okay, cool, otherwise this might be very awk—”

               The words were yanked out of my mouth as he pressed his foot down into the accelerator and made a hasty left turn. My body slammed against the car door. He tried to straighten out the car, swerving a little back and forth as he tried to correct his direction. I caught a glimpse of how close the car in front of us was before he slammed down on the brake, sending me forward so fast that the only thing stopping me from banging my head on the dashboard was the seatbelt digging into my chest.

               “Eugeo, easy!” I said.

               “S-sorry,” he stammered. “I didn’t think someone might be so close when I turned.”

               I sat up properly to give him my response, but he swerved again, this time changing lanes abruptly to go around someone going the speed limit. This time, I was tossed against him. He let go of the wheel and moved to get me off of him.

               “Eu-Eugeo the wheel, the wheel!” I exclaimed.

               “O-oh, right!”

               He grasped ahold of the wheel and kept his focus on the road from then on, not even bothering to look at me as he drove. I wasn’t paying attention to him after the second turn, though. He whipped the vehicle around, didn’t exactly drive straight, and had a foot made of lead. With each bump, swerve, or sharp turn, I felt my stomach turn. If I didn’t get out of the car, I thought I would puke right there in my lap.

               “I think I’m done practicing,” he said, using my choice of word specifically to make me regret having chosen it. “I’ll head to the café now, if that’s alright?”

               I gave him a meek nod. It didn’t occur to me where he’d driven us on his little practice runs around the city, but before I could register it, Eugeo pulled his worst driving stunt yet: a U-turn. I clamped my hands over my mouth as the car careened to the right. Something told me we might have lifted two tires off of the ground, but I felt so dizzy I couldn’t focus on anything.

               With the U-turn nightmare over, we still drove for about ten minutes to get to Dicey Café. My stomach continued to protest as he whipped the car around other drivers. I personally had expected Eugeo to be an overly-cautious and nervous driver, but instead he drove like a child who only knows how to press the gas as hard as possible in a racing game and when they pressed the brake (if at all) it was a full stop from top speed.

               When he (very poorly) finally parked the car alongside the street, I slowly pulled myself out of the car and staggered a few feet, clutching my belly. I leaned against the wall of the closest building and took deep breaths as I tried to reorient myself. Eugeo hurried over to me and gently rubbed my back.

               “You didn’t tell me you got carsick,” he said.

               How on Earth was I supposed to tell him I don’t? I forced myself upright and wrapped my arms around his neck. From the flustered sounds he was making, I’d probably just really embarrassed him. I patted his back and shook my head.

               “What am I going to do with you?” I muttered.

               “K-Kirito, people are staring!” he exclaimed.

               It probably did look like a young couple getting a little too close for public taste. I didn’t care, though. I didn’t want him to see the laugh I was holding back.

               “We’ll work on that lead foot of yours, Eugeo,” I said, sighing. “Maybe then the carsickness will magically go away.”

               “Were you faking sick?!”

               I shook my head.

               “No, no,” I said.

               Finally, I grasped him by the shoulders and separated us just enough that he could see me face. I’d composed myself well enough, I thought, to be able to seriously give him my opinion on his newly legalized skill.

               “You’re just that bad of a driver.”

               “H-hey!”

               At his response, I couldn’t hold in my laughter any longer. Oh well. He was probably expecting it, anyways.


End file.
